Oral health care |
Interviewer: Talk about your life story, from childhood to the present day, thinking of the condition of your mouth and teeth and oral health care. Interviewee 01: “[...] So, before, it was very difficult for us to go to a dentist and when we went to the dentist, it was to have the tooth pulled out, there was no such thing as treatment”. Interviewee 02: “In my day, when I was a teenager, I generally had a lot of toothache, didn’t I? I would even have treatment, get a filling. Then, soon after, again I’d have to have another filling done. Now, in my adult life, it’s better [...]”. Interviewee 03: “From when I was ten, I already looked after my health”. Interviewee 04: “[...] My mother always took care of us, didn’t she? [...] There were times when we didn’t even brush our teeth, back then. We’d splash some water in our mouths, go to school and ‘cleaned them’ [...]”. Interviewee 05: “The care was very precarious, because it was up to us ourselves. [...] We used to go out to the fields, with our father, come back. [...] We’d get there (to school), the teachers didn’t care either at that time, people had almost no oral hygiene. So, today I suffer the consequences. All my teeth are falling out [...]”. Interviewee 06: “[...] In terms of oral care, I think that when we were children we didn’t take much care, because parents used to go out to work and didn’t have the time to be helping their children. [...] There was hygiene, but it wasn’t like what we do today. Sometimes I would even go all day without cleaning or even more than a day [...]”. Interviewee 07: “[...] And our mothers didn’t care, almost didn’t bother, did they? Then you’d get a toothache and we’d put some medicine on to relieve the pain. [...] Today, people are charging R$ 50.00, R$ 40.00 to pull a tooth. Money is really, really scarce. There’s times when we can even pay for water, electricity, buy food at home. That’s the way things are.” Interviewee 08: “[..] I haven’t got any teeth anymore. [...] My mother used to brush our teeth when we was little. It was our mother who brushed our teeth. Then when we started to grow up, it’s us who brushed. We brushed.” Interviewee 09: “When I was a child, I didn’t use to go to the dentist, because there wasn’t one. Then we didn’t know what a dentist was. It’s not long I started going to the dentist. [...] My father and mother taught us to take care of our teeth, brush our teeth well and our tongue.” Interviewee 10: “She (mother) took care, because my mother bought us toothbrushes. Then I started to get old, my teeth started to go bad, so I had all my teeth out [...]”. Interviewer: How do you take care of your teeth or prosthesis (“plate”) on a daily basis? Interviewee 01: “I brush in the morning, after I get up, after breakfast I brush, I brush midday after lunch and at night, when I go to sleep [...]”. Interviewee 02: “[...] Every time I eat, I brush, I take off the prosthesis, I clean it well, brush it really thoroughly, understand? Just like I brush my teeth.” Interviewee 03: “[...] I brush three times a day”. Interviewee 04: “[...] I brush my teeth early in the morning, brush them midday and brush them at night. Before going to sleep, I brush my teeth well. You have to brush your tongue. [...]” Interviewee 05: “[...] Just brushing, that’s all”. Interviewee 06: “[...] During the day, only sometimes, when I eat something that really bothers me, but really brushing properly, which I do, I try to do the way I’ve learned, in the morning and at night”.
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Oral health care |
Interviewee 07: “I brush early, I brush midday, after lunch, I brush at night after I go in to sleep. Three times a day”. Interviewee 08: “[...] I finish eating, I brush. I go to sleep at night, I brush. Early in the morning I get up, I brush. It’s all brushed. I take good care of my (prosthesis). Interviewee 09: “I always brush, I use an ‘oral’ (mouthwash), I brush my tongue, my teeth and, every so often, I see a doctor for a cleaning, at the dentist’s”. Interviewee 10: “I clean. I brush everything, on my tongue, under my tongue, I brush my gums, I brush everything.” Interviewer: Have you ever used any tea or home remedy or charm to solve a problem in your mouth or teeth? Talk about that experience. Interviewee 01: “[...] there is a little bush, with a little flower, we used to pull off that little flower, I just don’t remember the name. Then, we’d take out that little piece and put it in the hole in the tooth, then you’d fall asleep. I even used it.” Interviewee 02: “I remember once I had a bad toothache. They recommended making potato leaf tea and rinsing your mouth with it. I made the tea, I did. I used it [...]”. Interviewee 04: “Only when we pulled off, [...] we were taught that potato leaves were good for rinsing, so as not to inflame too much. Just that. And Pedra hume [Myrcia sphaerocarpa]”. Interviewee 05: “[...] I used to rinse my mouth with vinegar, salt and some leaves of a bush we have, some roots, to bring down the swelling, to rinse, stop the pain. [...] I used the “desinchadeira” [plant with anti-inflamatory properties] and [...] I was in pain, I rinsed with it. I also use that pomegranate peel.” Interviewee 06: “[...] It was hurting, so I put water with salt on it, but I didn’t drink it. I just put it in [my mouth].” Interviewee 08: “[...] I washed with [Erythrina] mulungu bark, which is very good for bringing down inflammation of the gums and teeth”. Interviewee 10: “I remember. I remember. We used to rinse our teeth, something like that... salt water, [...]a remedy, a cashew leaf, something to reduce inflammation in our teeth”.
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